WWII Military Battles Atlas

8/8/2019 WWII Military Battles Atlas

1/111

W H O M B B B B B H H J W H B

|fesi|?* | ' *^^ ^^

*

iffBjII^HHMOVERSIZE912.940542U586aE 1 ilill||||||P|^

HH^SHp^^HH|H^^


2/111

THE COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLLEGE

LIBRARY

Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-6900Call Number

CGSC Label 131 Jan 85 Edition of 11 Dec 72 is obsolete.


3/111

A Supplement TO THEBiennial Report of

THE CHIEF OF STAFF OF542 THE UNITED STATES ARMY

JULY 1, 1943, to JUNE 30, 1945

TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR


4/111

THE COMMAND AN D GENERAL STAFF COLLEGE

LIBRARY

Call Number


5/111

*

ATLASof the World Battle Fronts

in Semimonthly Phasesto August 15j 1945

Supplement to the Biennial Report ofTHE CHIEF OF STAFF OF

THE UNITED STATES ARMYJULY 1, 1943, to JUNE 30, 1945

TO TH E SEC R ETA R Y O F WA R

MAR 1 6 1983


6/111

F O R E W O R D By 1 July 194 3, the be ginn ing of the period covered by this report, the German and

Jap ane se plans of aggre ssion had been shattered. Our plan of action had been resolvedinto tw o great effortsone in Europe against Germany, the other in the opposite hemisphe re against Jap an . Th e map series in this volume show the war fronts within thesetwo major theaters up to the conclusion of the fighting.

Simultaneous situations within the two vast areas of global war are shown on facing pages, these regions being presented with reference to the United States, that is,Europe on the rig ht and the Pacific on the left. Th e half-month p eriod covered by successive maps is sufficiently short to retain the effect of animation in our advances andpermit treatment of the major campaigns in some detail.

Many of the major achievements of the Allied forces in the war cannot adequatelybe repre sente d o n such maps. Nevertheless they do vividly portray how quickly vastareas of the earth's surface were progressively and systematically wrested from theenemy's control by the concerted action of the Allied ground, air, naval and supplyforces.

In the presentation, principal Allied gains for a semi-monthly period are shown indeep red, while areas under Allied control are shown in lighter tint. Enemy-controlledterritory appears white, while enemy gains during the period are shown in black.Ne utral coun tries are colored gray. In the Pacific, water rou tes between widely separated land masses furnished the key to the significance of territoria l gains; to emphasizethis important characteristic, ocean areas in the wake of our advance have been represented as zones of Allied control.

The inclusion of all fronts has necessitated reference to incomplete reports forinformation on some areas, particularly those not under American or British command.It is believed that any errors which may exist are relatively minor.


7/111

WAR AGAINST JAPAN

The war against Japan is presented on a map based on the M ercator projec tion, inwhich latitudes and longitu des appear at right angles. Th e scale varies according todistance from the equator. Th e distortion caused by scale variation is made a ppa rentby the red grid, in which lines are drawn at 500-mile intervals, Tokyo being used as azero point. Com parison with the 500-mile intervals on the oppo site page accentuates the great distances involved in the Pacific.


8/111

WAR AGAINST GERMANY

The map used for presenting the war against Germany through November 1944 isbased on an azimuthal equidistant projection, in which curving latitudes and converging longitud es appea r somewh at as they do on a sphere. The red grid lines aredraw n at 500-mile intervals zeroed on Berlin. Th e last six mo nths of the war inEurope are shown on an enlarged section of this map; the enlargement results in achange of scale from about 2 50 to about 125 miles to the inch.


9/111

WAR AGAINST JAPANPERIOD ENDI

By throw ing back the Japanese in the Coral Sea and Midway battles, th e Navyhad set the stage for our advance westward an d northward across the broad Pacific.In late Jun e, United States forces un der the strategic direction of General MacArthurlanded on New Georgia while others continued the advance along the eastern coastof New G uinea. In Asia, the Japa nese advance had severed our vital supply route toChina and carried to the borders of India.


10/111

AGAINST GERMANY1943

As midsummer 1943 drew near, the battle fronts of Europe were ominously quiet.T he year had ope ned w ith the Soviet trium ph at Stalin grad. In May, Axis forces inAfrica had capitulated. The tide of victory had turned, and the Allied nations weregirding for th e assault on Germ an-held Europ e from the west, south, and east. By1 July, the strategy for the defeat of Germany had been decided and our forces werepoised for the initial blow.


11/111

WAR AGAINST JAPAN !PERIOD ENDtt

PACIFIC OCEAN

*t v NEW GEORGIA , - 1R E N D OV A

\ ( VANGUNU

Documents

WWII Military Battles Atlas